Starred Review. Reviewed by Megan Whalen Turner
If there really are merely seven original plots in the world, it's odd that boy meets girl is always mentioned, and society goes bad and attacks the great guy never is. Yet we have Fahrenheit 451, The Giver, The Home of the Scorpion—and now, following an extended tradition of Brave New Worlds, The Hunger Games. Collins hasn't tied her future with a specific date, or weighted it down with too much finger wagging. Rather less 1984 and rather more Death Race 2000, hers is really a gripping story set inside a postapocalyptic world the place where a replacement for your United states of america demands a tribute from each of their territories: two children to be used as gladiators in the televised fight towards the death.Katniss, from what was once Appalachia, offers to take the place of her sister inside Hunger Games, but after this ultimate sacrifice, she's entirely focused on survival at any cost. It is her teammate, Peeta, who recognizes the importance of holding on one's humanity in such inhuman circumstances. It's a credit to Collins's skill at characterization that Katniss, like a whole new Theseus, is cold, calculating and still likable. She gets the attributes to be a winner, where Peeta gets the grace being an excellent loser.It's no accident that these games are presented as pop culture. Every generation projects its fear: runaway science, communism, overpopulation, nuclear wars and, now, reality TV. Hawaii of Panem—which needs to maintain its tributaries subdued and it is citizens complacent—may have come up with Games, but mindless television could be the real danger, the means where society pacifies its citizens and punishes people that don't conform. Will its connection to reality TV, ubiquitous today, date the book? It might, but for now, celebrate this the right book at the right time. What happens as we choose entertainment over humanity? In Collins's world, we'll be obsessive about grooming, we'll talk funny, and all our sentences can easily with the same rise as questions. When Katniss is distributed to stylists to get made more telegenic before she competes, she stands naked facing them, strangely unembarrassed. They're so unlike people that i am no longer self-conscious than if a trio of oddly colored birds were pecking around my feet, she thinks. In order not to hate these creatures that are sending her to her death, she imagines them as pets. It's not the contestants who risk the loss of these humanity. It is all who watch. Katniss struggles to win not just the Games nevertheless the inherent contest for audience approval. Because that is the first book in the series, not it is all totally resolved, and what is left unanswered will be the central question. Has she sacrificed too much? We know very well what she gets given approximately survive, and not whether or otherwise the price was too high. Readers will wait eagerly to learn more.
Megan Whalen Turner is the author of the Newbery Honor book The Thief and its particular sequels, The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia. The following book inside series is planning to be published by Greenwillow in 2010.
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Grade 7 Up -In a not-too-distant future, the United states of america of America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war, to get replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 12 districts. Each year, two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to be involved in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal intimidation with the subjugated districts, the televised games are broadcasted throughout Panem since the 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to watch. When 16-year-old Katniss's young sister, Prim, is selected since the mining district's female representative, Katniss volunteers to look at her place. She and her male counterpart, Peeta, the son of the town baker who seems to get all of the fighting skills of the lump of bread dough, will be pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives. Collins's characters are completely realistic and sympathetic because they form alliances and friendships within the face of overwhelming odds; the plot is tense, dramatic, and engrossing. This book will certainly resonate using the generation raised on reality shows like 'Survivor' and 'American Gladiator.' Book one of a planned trilogy.Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage Public Library, AK
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